This new Raphiolepis variety was found in May, 1991 as a chance sport on an unnamed unpatented seedling Raphiolepis indica plant of unknown parentage. The plant upon which the sport was found is not a horticultural variety and is not available commercially. The sport, hereinafter referred to as `Conynne`, was discovered by the late Clayton J. McCommon in a cultivated area at Avalon Ornamentals, 16515 Davenport Road, Winter Garden, Fla. The new and distinct Raphiolepis indica plant of this invention comprises a novel and valuable plant with a dense, low spreading habit and an abundance of pink flower clusters. The new variety has retained many of the outstanding attributes of its parent species, in particular its tolerance of heat, drought, salt, and disease which makes it adaptable to culture in most of the Sunbelt States. As with the parent species, the plant of this invention may be advantageously employed as a specimen appointment, a ground cover, in either formal or informal groupings, and is quite attractive in mass plantings. `Conynne` serves well in foundation plantings and is adapted for culture as a potted plant. `Conynne`, is responsive to pruning and training and may be employed in forming dense, attractive, low-growing hedges, and maintained without an excessive amount of care. This plant is easy to care for and maintain in size due to its short internodes, slow to moderate growth rate, heavy branching, and dense canopy. Its natural propensity to remain small to maturity makes it valuable for landscape uses in smaller home gardens which require plants which do not outgrow their intended mature dimensions.
Asexual propagation of the new plant by cuttings has been under Mrs. McCommon's direction at Avalon Ornamentals in Winter Garden, Fla. Several generations of the new plant have been evaluated and the distinctive characteristics of the plant have remained stable. The plant cannot be reproduced true from seed.